This year's Roving Entertainers will be roaming the hallways and various nooks and crannies of the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium filling them with music, dance, and comedy throughout the convention. There will be scheduled performances at the two entertainment stages too so be sure to take a moment to enjoy!

Some will also be in the Entertainer Spotlight section of the Exhibit Hall selling their CDS as well as hosting events during the show. Be sure to check them out!

Dan the Bard

Dan the Bard composes, records, and performs songs about Dragons … and the Dungeons in which they dwell! He has 10 CDs, the most popular of which are his “Gamer Trilogy”: Manticores and Owlbears (2009), Bard Camp! (2011) and Epic Lute (2014), not to mention his BRAND NEW CD Cross-Genre References (2016), featuring songs about Star Wars, Star Trek, Comic Books, Game of Thrones, Anime, Doctor Who, and more!

Dan has several shows at Gen Con (check the schedule) and has also performs at GaryCon, ACEN, C2E2, WindyCon, DucKon, OPCON, CODCON, GameholeCon, ConOntheCobCon and CapriCon. He is also the Music Director of the Bristol Renaissance Faire where he has been performing for the last 20 years!

Canyon Spells

Hailing from Nashville, TN, Canyon Spells is a rock band of nerds. Band members Jimmie and Daniel first became friends playing Halo, Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons at a local hobby shop - now when they're off tour they play Hearthstone, Overwatch, and cover songs on a weekly twitch stream.

"We were gamers before we were musicians," says lead singer Jimmie Linville, "We've stayed true to that through the years. And every year at Gen Con we get to play music and games for 4 days straight, so that helps."

They've now shared the stage with Counting Crows, PHOX, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Adam Duritz, of Counting Crows, tweeted of their album, Death Head, “it’s like suddenly remembering all these good things I never want to forget.” Come see them perform as a 5-piece at Gen Con, then game with them afterward!

Captain Ambivalent

Captain Ambivalent is a nerd-rock singer/songwriter/superhero with an accordion, boldly battling market forces since 2005.

The Captain’s glacial rise from obscurity to international obscurity began at Valparaiso, Indiana open mics and has grown to include Doctor Demento, WXRT’s Local Anesthetic, WFMT’s The Midnight Special, South Bend Public Television, Whiting Indiana’s PierogiFest, one-man shows in alternative theaters and Fringe Festivals, and even a brief cameo on America’s Got Talent. But his favorite gig is Gen Con (shh, don’t tell the others).

The 2012 debut album “Fear The Accordion” and 2014 follow-up “Pirate Ninja Zombie” were relevant to Con-goers, but this year brings the release of “Save The Orcs,” a full band EP of ten funny songs specifically inspired by D&D, computer games, H.P. Lovecraft, B movies, Paranoia, and Star Wars.

Captain Ambivalent is honored and humbled to be roving for his fifth year Saturday and Sunday, in this the 50th year of the ongoing orc genocide. Save the orcs!

Classic Music Indy

Classical Music Indy is the non-profit producer and syndicator of classical music radio programs, the originator of numerous community engagement and education programs, and an advocate for classical music and classical music-makers. #RandomActsofMusic is a program offered by Classical Music Indy for the city of Indianapolis. #RandomActsofMusic creates a new contemporary culture of classical music with spontaneous pop up performances anywhere and anytime. This year at Gen Con we will be providing a surprise array of gaming music favorites with a trio of classical musicians!

Damsels of Dorkington

The Damsels of Dorkington are here to usher in a new era of Dork Pride. They are three nerdalicious ladies and one dude in a dress who have come to bring you Nerdcore Comedy: a blend of raucous comedy, music, and geekery guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, or vomit. Perhaps all three.

Different Drummer Belly Dancers

Different Drummer Belly Dancers (DDBB) are back, dear gamers! Fifty years of Gen Con MUST have belly dance. These dancers are going to shimmy and shake and dance their way through many fandoms, all the while celebrating Gaming-Geek belly dance! Moving their hips to their favorite music and honoring their favorite Geek themes, these dancers will get you on your feet and smiling. Whether you find DDBD entertaining at the Spotlight Areas, or dancing before the Saturday Costume Contest, DDBD is here to entertain you.

Catch Different Drummer Belly Dancers at:

Their SPA classes teaching "Belly Dance Is For Every Body"!

Dancing in the hallways.

Visit their table of incredible wears in the Entertainer Spotlight section of the Exhibit Hall.

This year Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 music will be heard at the Pre-Costume Contest show – obviously.

il Troubadore

il Troubadore is Indianapolis' premiere intergalactic music ensemble. The group plays music from dozens of countries around the galaxy and sings in over four dozen languages. Whether appearing as the Klingon Music Project or with the Wookiee Cellist the group has delighted audiences throughout the Midwest and the Universe. If Klingon Opera moves you, or if you thrill to the primeval sounds of the Ewok Celebration song, or if you enjoy various Terran folk and rock tunes, then don't miss il Troubadore as they wander the Indiana Convention Center during Gen Con 2017!

Instant Gameshow

A roaming band of middle-aged vagabonds seek to entertain and confound one and all with gaming related trivia, lip sync contests, and more!

While you're roaming the hallways, keep your ears to the ground and your wits about you. Listen closely for the rumbling wheels of fame, fortune and quizzical glory as ... Instant Gameshow is back! We've revamped, reloaded, and are ready for action. Featuring the members of the '40 Going On 14' podcast, what could go wrong?

Apryl Knight

Apryl Knight is a multi-instrumentalist specializing in the exceptionally weird and obscure. Her current favorites are hurdy gurdy (an instrument that dates to at least the 10th century which she describes as a sort of ‘cheater violin for pianists’), bowed psaltery (a 20th century instrument based on ancient psalteries, but with a full chromatic range and played with bows), and Pianonomicon (her toy piano which she has modified and liberated from its original case).

Catch her in the hallways or at her table in the Entertainer Spotlight area of the Exhibit Hall to witness the firepower of her fully armed and operational instruments (OK, maybe not so much “firepower” as “sonic amazement”). You can also find her at Marc Gunn’s Comedy Cabaret concert on Thursday evening.

Marc Gunn

Marc Gunn is a geek musician. He fuses his love of science fiction, fantasy, and comedy with his Scots-Irish heritage. You will laugh and smile to songs inspired from Firefly to hobbits, dragons to cats, to traditional Irish drinking songs. He's topped the charts on iTunes and Amazon and won numerous awards. He is a leading innovator on his musical weapon of choice, the autoharp.

Gunn’s activities are not restricted to musical performance alone. In 2005, he transformed his popular Celtic Music Magazine into one of the first podcasts - Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, one of the earliest podcasts to go online and definitely one of the longest lasting. It is still published after 12 years and has won twice for Best Music Podcast in the Podcast Awards.

Gunn has an adventurer's soul, he combines his love of travel with his love a music. Every year, he takes other adventuring souls on Celtic Invasion Vacations.

Pirates vs Dragons is Gunn's new steampunk solo album with a riveting story about a musician shanghaied by air pirates to sing the glories of dragon hunting.

Marooned

"These are the songs you’ll sing softly through your tears as you find yourself shackled and hanging by your ankles in a Spanish prison..." - Bilgemunky Pirate Radio

“The vocal sounds are sometimes eerie, sometimes fun, but always
excellent in quality. This is no amateur hour” --
Celtic MP3s Music Magazine

Marooned, the singing pirates of Gen Con return to bring their blend of pirate shanties, Irish ballads, and humor to Gen Con’s 50th anniversary. How could any sea-dog worth their salt miss such a gala event? Hailing from the desert, these landlocked sailors have been delighting audiences for over twenty years with their combination of shanties, Irish ballads, and humor.

A mainstay of Gen Con’s atmosphere, Marooned has released their last three CDs here at the convention (claiming that the proceeds go to help further fuel their dice addiction). Listen for them as they wander the convention halls, or visit them at the Entertainer’s Spotlight in the dealer’s hall. They’ll be happy to see you and are always glad to favor you with a song. Catch a song, take a photo, or just stop by to say ahoy!

The Irish Bard

Andrew McKee - The Irish Bard entertains with new and exciting arrangements of traditional Celtic & comedic folk music. A storyteller and weaver of dreams, Andrew brings to life a ceilidh atmosphere with music and stories for one and all. You will be intrigued, entranced, inspired, and amused by his rhythmic audacity and melodic mischief. So join the Irish Bard for Celtic folk, filk, and fun!

These veterans of stage and studio blend Celtic, blues, Americana, shanty, jazz, Creole, folk, art rock, reggae, comedy and original songs into something that can only be described as “eclectic acoustic.” Brandishing an impressive arsenal of musical instruments (including guitar, resonator guitar, mandolin, ukulele, pennywhistle, squeeze box, flute, harmonica, bongos, doumbek, djembe, banjo, and bodhran - just to name a few) they bring new life to tales of old, old sounds to tales of today and twisted takes on tales never meant to be told. This AINT your mommas folk music!